How can we have such a complete game?

[Guest]

winning coaches are always fighting and they always have their foot on the gas and they transfer that to their players.

This. From week one til week 17.

[BelgianPantherFan]

Dedication, spirit, intensity, concentration, confidence... They finally were Panthers, instead of sheep on the field.

[rayzor]

The Falcons are a complete paper tiger.

On the defensive side of the ball, they were without Asante Samuel, and Dunta Robinson is, uh, not good. Additionally, William Moore was out, so their entire secondary was crippled.

Abraham is finally showing his age, so there really isn't much pressure coming from the defensive line. Bierman isn't a starting defensive end, Jerry is terrible, Babineaux is good but he's the only one.

On offense, they barely had the ball in the first half, and when they did we managed to keep them off the field. Part of the reason they couldn't get anything going was because they kept trying to run the ball. Their offensive line is mediocre at best, but anyone should have been able to just run it up the gut against the Panthers. Unfortunately for them, they still give the ball to Michael Turner.

On the whole, we won because we scored early and kept the ball out of Atlanta's hands. After that, we managed to hold on.

agreed with all of that, except i think in the past the problem has been that we've just tried to "hold on" to our leads instead of continuing to push.

[Navy_football]

agreed with all of that, except i think in the past the problem has been that we've just tried to "hold on" to our leads instead of continuing to push.

Agree with both posts, particularly yours Rayzor. McDermott went into prevent mode for awhile, allowing Matty to get some momentum with a couple of scores. But you could see the CBs switch back to press and the Falcons were slowed down just enough to force Matty to press too hard.

I know it's not a popular thing to say, but I can see the coaches improving just as much as Cam as of late. But just like Cam continues to press a little too much, Chud still hasn't figured out how to establish a running game, McD still hasn't figured out how to maintain pressure on QBs on obvious passing downs, and Ron still hasn't figured out how to activate Gettis.

But overall, I think everyone is getting better at their jobs. Honestly, we should probably keep Ron and company another year at least to see if they'll continue the trend. Players need continuity more than anything.

[Bj-Monster23]

Its a "rivalry" game. Records and all that go out the window.

Giants played our "option" scheme and smashed us, then looked lost against their rival Redskins same "option" scheme. When you play a familiar opponent things can happen.

You hit the nail on the head man. Teams tend to play like this most of the time. Look at teams who play each other in the division. Even though the Raiders loss the still played the Broncos tough and it wasn't a easy win at all. Teams who play each other a lot tend play great against familiar opponents.

[panthers90]

A big thing no one is talking about is Special Teams! Gano is actually kicking the ball high and deep, Nortman barely had to punt, Joe Adams didn't go full retard, Armond looked good returning kicks = a competent ST unit that didn't allow any of the momentum to swing ATLs way like we have in a lot of our losses this year.

[CRA]

for starters the Falcons are frauds. It is why we had them beat in Atl....and beat them here.

They are the worst 11-2 team I have seen in some time. I will enjoy watching Matty Ice get beat by 21 first round of the playoffs.

[CRA]

A big thing no one is talking about is Special Teams! Gano is actually kicking the ball high and deep, Nortman barely had to punt, Joe Adams didn't go full retard, Armond looked good returning kicks = a competent ST unit that didn't allow any of the momentum to swing ATLs way like we have in a lot of our losses this year.

yeah, Armond runs that ball out like a man with a purpose.

[CRA]

also that wasn't a complete game. Our O should of dropped 40 on them.

[EagLOLs]

Everytime we blitzed, we got pressure str8 up the middle, Matt Ryan was getting blocked in my his RBs trying to block...it was the greatest thing I've seen all season.

Our back up Center from Clemson was a beast

[Matthias]

The Falcons are the top team in the NFC looking at the wins. We not only spanked the dirty birds but did it without the usual of penalties, missing half our starters, plus we were balanced on both offense and defense......They looked like they were not playing scared and playing with a purpose.

Can anyone explain why this happened or better yet, why has it not been happening all year?

That's easy. Rivera is fighting for his job, even crying for it. You tend to go all out once you know your seat is getting a little warm.

[LA_Panther]

Falcons are not that bad, but we simply executed.

[CRA]

Our back up Center from Clemson was a beast

he played 2 snaps. Got blown up on one of those two.....and we punted for the first time all game.

people keep thinking he played more than he did. 2 snaps. Piggy came back but since the announcers didn't mention it people assume Austin must of been in.

[carolina-chuck]

Crazy thing is this seem to happen over and over every year. We always find ways to play strong at the end of the season. We beated Houston late last season even though the had a rookie QB, but was still a very good team. Now we beat these Failcons.

Panthers = Inconsistency